Control systems for controlling home appliances via the Internet are well known in the art. For example, Nest Labs is a home automation company that designs and manufactures sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled, self-learning, programmable thermostats and smoke detectors. Nest is compatible with most standard HVAC systems that use central heating and cooling and uses industry standard connections to facilitate the control of these appliances. The Nest control system consists of two primary pieces of hardware viz. a display that contains the main printed circuit board (PCB) and rotating ring; and the base that houses the connection terminals.
The Nest thermostat is built around an operating system that allows interaction with the thermostat via spinning and clicking of its control wheel. This control is used for accessing option menus for switching from heating to cooling, access to device settings, energy history, and scheduling. Users can control Nest without a touch screen or other input device. As the thermostat is connected to the Internet, updates can be pushed to fix bugs, improve performance and add additional features. Thus, the thermostat can be controlled from and receive updates through its Internet connection.
Still other inventions are more specific to the opening and closing of garage doors. U.S. Pat. No. 6,998,977 which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, teaches an apparatus for controlling a movable barrier operator such as a garage door. A network interface is electronically connected to the garage door for connecting the garage door to a network. In use, the garage door communicates directly over a user's local network by exchanging status request messages. A problem with this architecture is that users must go through a complicated setup process to allow for any outside communication. Moreover, average persons often do not have the time or technical ability to accomplish a complex set-up process. This type of network typically requires additional paid services to guarantee uninterrupted access to control the door. These services might include paying for ISP (Internet Service Provider) for a static IP Address or alternatively subscribing to a dynamic DNS service such as provided by Dyn Inc. (www.dyndns.com).
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.